The Longest Wall in the World


The barrier is longer than the Israeli West Bank barrier and the Berlin Wall. It consists of sand and stone walls about three meters in height, with bunkers, fences and landmines throughout. Military bases, artillery posts and airfields dot the interior behind the wall at regular intervals, and radar masts and other electronic surveillance equipment scan the areas in front of it.



It was gradually built beginning in 1983, with its main function being to protect the Moroccan-controlled portions of Western Sahara against the guerrilla fighters of the Polisario Front, who have sought Western Saharan independence since before Spain ended its colonial occupation in 1975. Effectively, the Polisario controls all areas to the east of the barrier, but these areas are mostly uninhabited. Units from the United Nations mission MINURSO separate the two sides.

Many of Western Sahara's native Sahrawi people live as refugees in camps in the Tindouf province of Algeria, where the Polisario is based. Because the barrier is doubled in many places, with a significant distance between the two halves, many Sahrawis live in this no-man's-land with profound constraints on mobility and accessibility.